The invention relates to the creation of decorative and commercial artwork through the use of applying epoxy resin to a fiber glass screen material. The invention permits three-dimensional objects to be created as well as provides for coloring of the epoxy resin. Further, special lighting effects can be obtained through the location of lamps and LEDs with respect to the artistic work created and with the control of these lighting sources.
In the past decorative and commercial artwork has been limited by the materials used in forming the artwork. For example, the basic skeletal frame or underlying material used limits the artist in making attractive artwork. Different thin and thick papers, canvas, parchment and woven materials, etc. have normally been utilized as the underpinning for the reception of paint. The strength, texture, color and thickness of this skeletal material greatly influences the visual aspects of the art product that can be created. If the skeletal material has a heavy grain, it must either be covered over, or it will have a visual appearance in the final product. Covering-over by painting makes the created artwork less opaque and more brittle. This can affect the strength of the final product and perhaps limit the environment where the artwork can be displayed. For example, heavy brittle painting may not wear well under changing temperature conditions where expansion in response to temperature may cause aging or unacceptable contractions and expansions due to temperature cycling. For some materials, heat can even cause cracks or running of the material.
Likewise the patina of the artwork created is similarly influenced. Some materials make even smooth, unlined or etched surfaces hard to create, because of the consistency and application of the covering process the material comes out wavy or non-uniform. Some materials admit of matte finishes while others provide for a glossy appearance. Almost all materials have a texture to them providing some pebbling or stringy appearance to the artwork.
All old materials are affected by humidity which also can deteriorate the material of the skeletal matter and/or the material applied to the skeletal matter by the artist. Likewise, sunlight with its ultraviolet rays and temperature changes can cause deterioration of the artistic work.
Some artistic materials stay soft or malleable for a long period of time (e.g. oil paints) and thus limit the amount of layering that can be applied without the artistic work sagging in spots. Most materials cannot be sufficiently layered to provide real three-dimensional artworks beyond, say, a sixteenth of an inch. Materials that can be layered provide for reduction of transparency, limiting backdrop lighting as an option for artistic use therewith. Also, the skeletal material's thickness needs to be increased in order to support and handle the layering that creates the three-dimensional artwork, further limiting the ability of the artwork to be translucent for the passage of light.
The instant invention provides an art medium that allows for extensive layering without a significant reduction in translucency of the artwork created. It also permits three-dimensional creations by the addition of material on the front and back side of the skeletal frame utilized to support the artwork. The material hardens to provide a weather resistant artwork such that rain, sun and temperature changes have little effect, if any, on the created art.
The process of applying the material to the skeletal frame allows for the embedding of live items (e.g. flowers, butterflies, etc.) into the artwork, which live items are completely incased such as to fossilize the item embedded. Non-live items can also be embedded such as containers (vases used to hold fruit). LEDs can also be embedded into the applied material.
The materials applied to the skeletal matter is substantially clear in color so as to be translucent but can be colored before applying it to the skeletal matter. Since coloring of each layer of the applied material is possible, depth projection can be emphasized through variations in color of the layers. Also, if lightly colored, the layers can act as light filters for the passage of light coming from the rear of the artwork, thus varying and magnifying the number and hues of the color appearances.
The invention as contemplated has variable timing for backdrop lighting such that using a 24-hour timer could allow for changing the transmitted lighting to correspond with the sun (i.e. dark at midnight, sunrise, sunset, etc.). This timed lighting can also progress from light to light (e.g. LED to LED) to show movement of, say, the sun or moon across a sky or to give a halo or starburst effect, or in the case of a commercial art advertisement as a moving arrow, such as one finds on highway markers. If LEDs are used, they could be embedded in the artwork.
The invention also contemplates that use of front lighting of a variable or constant type for providing different three-dimensional effects from the artwork created. The front lighting can be located at any or all of the locations of: above, below, or to the sides of the artwork and with variable timed controls therefor.
In creating the artwork, the invention calls for the steps of first stretching of a fiber glass material across a frame to provide the base for the skeletal frame. A fiber glass material used is Style No. 1080-plane-20 mills from Hexcel Fabrics Corporation of Pleasanton, Colo. Next a clear resin material is applied to the stretched material. This resin material is "ARALDITE-AY-103" from CIBA GEIGY Corporation of Hawthorne, N.Y. The resin is first mixed with a hardener catalyst material "HY-956" also obtained from CIBA GEIGY Corporation. The mixture is one hundred parts resin to twenty parts hardener. The fiber glass coated material is then allowed to harden (20 minutes using an infrared heater or 3 hours at a room temperature of 70.degree. F.). After hardening, the skeletal frame is ready for the application of the additional material to create the artistic design. The size and thickness of the skeletal frame tends to limit the amount of height of the possible buildup of layering. A frame size of a one-inch square would permit a layering thickness of up to an inch. A frame size of one square yard allows a layering thickness up to six inches, while a 5.times.7 square yard frame would handle layering thickness of 6 to 12 inches. In each of these above examples the impregnated, cured fiber glass would have a thickness of 2/16 inches.
To create color on the skeletal frame, a color pigment is added to a new resin mixture (same material as used to create the fiber glass) which is then applied to the frame and allowed to cure. For glossy and translucent colors, pigments are obtained from the TESTOR Corporation of Rockford, Ill. Colors for contouring (non-uniform in the material to be added) are obtained from DECART Incorporated of Morrisville, Vt.
The material to be applied to the skeletal frame can be applied through a brush, spatula, pad or modeled-like clay (after it has somewhat hardened). Also, a portion of the artwork could be first created in a mold and then secured to the skeletal frame by resin or resinous material previously attached to the skeletal frame. A liquid mold rubber silicon obtained from Romanoff International Supply Corporation of Amityville, N.Y. can be used for this off-skeletal layering by mold. For the embedding of live organisms and existing products into the artwork, the off-skeletal molding technique is most useful.
In the layering process, the artwork is cured after each layer is applied to the skeletal frame or previously applied and cured layer.
As the skeletal frame is translucent, a pattern of the artwork to be created can be laid under the skeletal frame to provide an outline for the artist.
It should further be recognized that repeated layers in the same color will cause the area so layered to be viewed darker at the front as less light will shine through, while at the side closest to a back light it will be lighter. This phenomena can also be used for edge borders which can be created dark or light dependent on the thickness of the applied material and the relative location of the light source.
The use of the above particular resin in the process provides great flexibility in the creation of artwork and is most revolutionary in the art world as it is not listed as an artist material in Ralph Meyer's ARTIST HANDBOOK OF MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES, Viking Press, SBN 670.B665.4.